The Brain that Wouldn’t Die is a film that more people have heard of than seen. Actually, let me amend that: it’s a film that most people probably assume exists, even if they’ve never actually heard the title spoken. Of course there’s a low budget science fiction film called The Brain that Wouldn’t Die. The title evokes a very specific image, which, it turns out, is precisely accurate: a woman’s living, disembodied head, suspended in a tray of mysterious liquids by a ludicrously elaborate chemistry set, a square jawed scientist working furiously nearby. One might go on to assume that this movie is a classic slice of atom age wonder, in the vein of The Fly or Forbidden Planet – but it’s there that they would be mistaken. For while the film wears the mask of an Eisenhower-era science fiction film, it masks a heart of pure grindhouse exploitation.
The film starts as one would imagine: brilliant-yet-headstrong surgeon Dr. Bill Cortner is working on boldly experimental methods of life preservation, much to the chagrin of his father and colleagues. He’s got a beautiful fiancee, a fast car, and an appointment he needs to get to in a hurry. One thing leads to another, and before you know it, Dr. Cortner is scooping his lady’s head out of a fiery car crash and keeping her alive in his basement laboratory. So far, so sciencey.
But here’s the twist: Dr. BIll Cortner is a huge creep. Girlfriend Jan’s head has barely regained consciousness before Dr. Cortner starts shopping for the perfect body. First, he cruises around town, leering at women to the strains of grimey striptease music. Then he hits the bars, chatting up women while surreptitiously sizing up their necks (seriously!). From there, he starts lurking at beauty pageants, before deciding on a pin-up model with a scarred face. Frank Henenlotter’s Frankenhooker (a thinly veiled remake) seems positively patrician by comparison.
Then there’s Jan, who doesn’t take kindly to one bit of this, and quickly becomes a vocal right-to-die advocate. She also develops a psychic connection with the deformed brute Dr. Cortner keeps in his closet. Did I not mention he had one of those? Anyway, the two hit it off, and Jan convinces the monster to tear off the arm of Bill’s hapless lab assistant. What follows is a landmark bit of gore (a year before Herschell Gordon Lewis’ Blood Feast), in which the assistant drags his bloody stump across every wall in the house before returning to the basement and collapsing about five feet from where he started.
All of this is to say that the Friendly Toast couldn’t have found a better film to kick off their brand new “B-Movies and Burgers” series: as both a whiz-bang sci-fi movie and a sleazy horror flick, it represents everything we love about the genre. And, after all, what better accompaniment to a night of signature cocktails and burgers than a movie featuring a booze-soaked mad scientist and a bloodthirsty, carnivorous mutant?
The Brain That Wouldn’t Die
1962
dir. Joseph Green
82 minutes
First come first serve – Movie starts at 6:30 PM
